Italo Calvino Quotes

I dislike Allegory - the conscious and intentional allegory - yet any attempt to explain the purport of myth or fairytale must use allegorical language.

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.

To me, a story can be both concrete and abstract, or a concrete story can hold abstractions. And abstractions are things that really can't be said so well with words.

I usually don't like to 'spoon feed' my audience, because I grew up idolizing story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same.

When you allegorize, you're gonna get everybody saved somehow.

I don't like allegory.

The metaphors exist for the stories.

If you have distance from the events, then your story can work as an analogy or parable rather than its literal narrative.

Fiction is a piece of truth that turns lies to meaning.

I see 'Hansel and Gretel' as a breakthrough book for me, and one of the reasons is because I started to apply meaning to the hidden details.

The nature of good fiction is that it dwells in ambiguity.

I think every good song tells a story, as ambiguous and vague as it may be. And if you know what a song is talking about, it can only help your performance.

Artists don't make objects. Artists make mythologies.

The purpose of narrative is to present us with complexity and ambiguity.

I'm of the Samuel Goldwyn school of writing: If you need to send a message, call Western Union. Any messages people take away from my books are the ones they see in them.

A poem need not have a meaning and like most things in nature often does not have.

A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a story of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances that cast the shadows.

A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.

The vast majority of English folk cannot and will not consider a picture as a picture, apart from any story which it may be supposed to tell.

A picture can say a thousand words but maybe not the correct ones.

I wanted to write a novel where the meaning is in the story and characters and the subliminal, in the shades and nuances. It's exciting to develop that as a writer.

I'm always curious what the world is trying to tell story wise.

I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations.

A tale in everything.

Some truths are expressed best in the form of myth.